Deniz Kurtel feat. Jada - The L Word

Deniz Kurtel feat. Jada - The L Word
I hope I don't jinx anything by saying this out loud, but one of the nicest things about dance music in recent years has been not only a steadily rising number of good female DJs and producers, but a lack of anyone seeming to think it's a big deal. One of the canniest of those talents has been Deniz Kurtel, who accomplishes that weird postmodern trick of making music that is so rooted in a specific time and place it induces sensory throwback for events you weren't even around for.

Just as "Yeah" threw the clock all the way back to Chicago circa 1987, there's a still-rough (and still deliberate) quality to "The L Word" that suggests New York two or three years later. A keyboard bass loop pumps so generously that you don't notice how short it is until near the end, after most everything else drops out. Yet it has the kind of jumpy nerve you associate with something like Precious' "Definition of a Track," whose bassline utilizes a wider palette and switches up on the bridge. As "Yeah" did, "The L Word" begins raw and old-school (and in such accurate detail) but grows glossier and less obviously classifiable as it progresses. I preferred the first half of "Yeah" but like the second half of "The L Word" more—it builds nicely, drawing you in deeper as glossy keyboards saturate mix. Guy Gerber's remix gives it a clearer sound and some extra chug, but not much happens until the synths get spooky in the final three minutes. The original, though, is all event.